(Maybe Not) The Happiest Time of the Year

I think marketing dictates so much of how we think we “should” feel. And when it comes to the holidays, we should feel all warm and fuzzy. At least, that’s what advertisers would have us think.

When our circumstances do not offer that, we often try to manufacture those feelings artificially. As many of us have realized at some point in our lives, you can’t artificially produce a sense of well-being.

The truth is Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. If we only honored that fact on a specific day each year being mindful of what that means in our individual lives and collectively as image bearers of God, it would be just fine to the One whom the day belongs to.

We, as women, try to do so much from Thanksgiving to the beginning of the New Year. Between trying to please our loved ones with gifts, we can both afford and that they will love, cooking meals, decorating our homes and countless other things we simply wear ourselves out.

I’ve concluded that it’s not only okay to simplify things, but it’s also totally normal to not always feel our best during the holidays. It’s enough just to be grateful, thankful for the true meaning of Christmas and all that means to you personally.

My present, if I had the power to give it, would be a profound sense of peace to all who are reading this post. Peace with your circumstances, peace in your relationships, and most importantly peace with your creator.